Expulsion apparatus



NOV. 21, 1967 Q LEVESQUE ET AL 3,353,446

EXPULSION APPARATUS Filed Jan. 28, 1966 FIG-3 INVENTORS CHARLES R. LEVESOUE WILL/AM M. MITCHELL Fla. 4 BY ATTORNEY United States Patent M 3,353,446 EXPULSION APPARATUS Charles R. Levesque, Silver Spring, Md., and William M.

Mitchell, Akron, Ohio, assignors to Goodyear Aerospace Corporation, Akron, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 523,777 1 Claim. (Cl. 89-1.5)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An expulsion apparatus comprised of a mounting base defining an open-ended discharge chamber, the base having a fuse receiving recess centrally aligned with the discharge chamber wherein the recess in the base acts to direct the explosive charge of the fuse axially along the discharge chamber.

This invention relates to an expulsion apparatus, and more particularly to an inexpensive apparatus for expelling various payloads, particularly from aircraft.

Heretofore it has been known that there have been many and various ways to expel chaff, flares, leaflets, smoke devices, etc. from aircraft, but these have generally been rather complicated, expensive, difficult to load and recharge, and generally not acceptable to easy, inexpensive, and rapid operation.

Therefore, it is the general object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties of the prior art, by providing a novel expulsion apparatus which is accurate, may be easily recharged, is quite inexpensive, and yet highly reliable.

A further object of the invention is to utilize known components currently available on the market in the overall novel concept to reduce the cost of construction thereof, and increase the facility of using the overall combination.

The aforesaid objects of the invention and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds are achieved by providing in an expulsion apparatus the combination of a mounting base defining an open ended discharge chamber, a fuse mounting cup mounted on the base and preferably centrally positioned at the bottom of the discharge chamber, a fuse removably received in the fuse mounting cup, explosive means filling the fuse, and an electrical lead passed through the mounting base and the mounting cup and connected through the fuse when it is positioned in the mounting cup whereby a current through the lead greater than fuse capacity will burn out the fuse causing ignition of the explosive means to expel anything removably positioned in the discharge chamber.

For a better understanding of the invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view looking down the discharge chamber of one embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the apparatus taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of another slightly modified embodiment of the invention looking down the discharge chamber; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of the apparatus of FIGURE 3 taken on line 44 thereof.

With reference to the form of the invention illustrated in FIGURES l and 2 of the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates generally a mounting base which preferably is formed from molded ceramic, and to which is mounted a cylindrically shaped retaining member 12 defining a discharge chamber 13 which is aligned in sealed relationship therewith by a rubber type O-ring 14. Naturally, the retaining member 12 may be molded directly with the base 3,353,446 Patented Nov. 21, 1967 10, or may be separate and thus easily replaceable. Any suitable material may be positioned internally of the discharge chamber 13, such as indicated by the dotted lines 16, to be discharged by means of the explosion apparatus, as more fully defined below.

The actual expulsion apparatus provides a fuse mounting cup 18 carried in recessed relation by the base 10. Usually, the cup 18 will be a Bakelite or other similar plastic molded part which may be cemented or merely forced into fitting relationship with the base 10. The fuse mounting cup 18 has a pair of prong receiving holes 20 which are lined with a metal sleeve in the usual manner, and electrically connected to a pair of current passing wires 22. Current may be brought to the prong receiving holes 20 through wires 22 by means of insulated wires 24.

Both the base 10, the retaining member 12, and the fuse mounting cup 18 may be made from any suitable material, but should be shock resistant to withstand repeated explosions, as defined later, without structural failure.

In this embodiment of the invention, the mounting base 10 has a recess 26 which is substantially centrally aligned with the discharge chamber 13. The fuse mounting cup 18 is centrally positioned at the bottom of this recess 26. A fuse, indicated generally by numeral 28, has a pair of prong feet 30 removably inserted into the receiving holes 20 in the cup 18. The prongs 30 are electrically connected to a fuse element 32 which is adapted to blow out or burn out upon the passage of a high current'pulse therethrough, all in the usual manner. Preferably, the fuse should be a radio frequency insensitive element which has the unique property of self-propagation, and broad range environment compatibility so that it can be used on aircraft in all types of temperature ranges. A suitable fuse element is that sold under the trade name Pyrofuse, a product of Sigmund-Cohn Co. of Mount Vernon, N.Y. The fuse 28 has a casing 34 with a top portion 36 that is removed to allow filling the body of the fuse with a suitable explosive 38 or gas generating powder, solid or liquid. The top 36 is repositioned and secured in place when the inside of the housing surrounding the fuse element 32 has been filled with a suitable explosive, as indicated generally by numeral 38.

In order to simplify the apparatus and make it less expensive, the invention contemplates that the fuse 28 will be a standard micro-fuse, such as that indicated by Type 273000 in the Allied Industrial Electronics Catalog, particularly shown at page 358 in the 1965 catalog. One simply converts this specific fuse by removing the top and filling it with black powder, for example.

Once the fuse 28 is positioned in the recess 26 with the prongs 30 inserted into receiving holes 20, it may be firmly held in position with a suitable spring type lock washer 40 which is merely manually forced down the recess 26 to seat the fuse 28 firmly in position with respect to the mounting cup 18. It should then be clearly understood that discharge of the material 16 carried in the discharge chamber 13 can be accomplished simply by passing a high current through wires 24 to blow out and burn the fuse element 32 causing ignition to the powder or explosive 38 which in turn blows and directs the charge out the open end of the chamber 13 causing expulsion of the material 16. To assist in this end, it should be noted that the recess 26 as well as the casing 34 of fuse 28 act to direct the charge axially along the chamber 13 and out the open end thereof.

Either the discharge chamber 13 or the mounting base 10 may be suitably secured to a frame portion 42 of an aircraft, with actuation of the current pulse through wires 24 controlled from the cockpit of the aircraft, as selectively desired.

The modified embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4 is only slightly different. Again, a ceramic base A is provided and secured to a retaining member 12A which defines a discharge chamber 13A by suitable O sealing ring 14A. In this instance, however, a conventional clip type fuse holder indicated generally by numeral 44 is mounted to the base 10A and has each end thereof connected to a suitable electrical input Wire 24A. To effect actuation for discharge of a suitable material received in the chamber 13A, indicated generally by dotted lines 16A, the invention contemplates that a standard cylindrically shaped cartridge fuse 46, having metal caps 48 and 50 on each end thereof, is resiliently and removably mounted into the fuse holder 44. This type fuse might also contain the same type fuse element 52 electrically connected between the caps 48 and 50, such as the Pyrofuse mentioned above. Again, if one of the end caps 48 or 50 is removed, the internal portion of the fuse 46 may be filled with a suitable explosive, indicated generally by numeral 54. Naturally, when a high current is passed through the lines 24A so as to blow out or ignite the fuse element 52, the explosive 54 will be ignited creating an expulsion charge which will force the material 16A out the open end of the discharge chamber 13A. It should be noted in this embodiment that there is no specific directive action to the charge except that the base of the chamber 13A, and the base 10A both are fiat and will automatically direct the charge out the open end of chamber 13A. Further, this embodiment is very simple, and extremely inexpensive as the fuse 52 may be a conventional fuse such as an AGC and MTH fuse illustrated at page 359 in the Allied Industrial Electronics Catalog of 1965.

Thus, it is seen that the objects of the invention have been achieved by providing a very simple yet highly reliable expulsion apparatus which utilizes easily procured fuses and fuse elements, where the fuses are removable once they have been discharged to allow rapid replacement and recharging of the expulsion apparatus. The apparatus is extremely low in cost, yet very highly reliable in operation and may be utilized individually, or in large banks to discharge very large amounts of material. Naturally, any slight modification of the fuse or chamber design may be made without departing from the objects of the invention.

What is claimed is: 5 In an expulsion apparatus the combination of a mounting base defining an open-ended discharge chamber having a large uniform bore throughout its length characterized by the base having a reduced bore recess substantially centrally and axially aligned with the discharge chamber opposite the open end thereof, an insulated fuse mounting cup centrally positioned at the bottom of said recess and carried by the recess of said base in recessed relation thereto so as to be flush with the base of the chamber and axially aligned with the chamber, a plug-intype fuse removably plugged into the fuse mounting cup and contained within the recess in said base, a spring type lock washer resiliently engaging at least some portions of the side walls of the recess and holding the fuse in plugged in relation to the mounting cup, explosive means filling the fuse, and an electrical lead passed through the mounting base and the mounting cup and connected through the fuse when it is positioned in the mounting cup whereby a current through the lead greater than the fuse capacity will burn out the fuse causing ignition of the explosive means, the recess of said base in which said fuse is contained acting to direct the force of the explosive charge axially along the discharge chamber, and a solid material in the chamber that is discharged axially out the open end of said chamber by the force.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,933,694 11/1933 Allen et a1. 10228 X 1,937,219 11/1933 Driggs 89l.5 2,780,994 2/1957 Bennett 10270 X 2,872,870 2/1959 Gey l0270.2 X 2,991,715 7/1961 Slough 10228 3,299,812 1/1967 Suh et al. 1O246 X SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Primary Examiner, 

